Evening The Odds
by HaveringFool
Summary: The reason is simple - the body is not that of any Doe.
1. Chapter 1

"I know you're there," she takes her goggles off, "Have you thought about it?"

"I've given some thought to it," the voice sends chills down her spine, cutis anserine or as it is more commonly known, goose bumps, form along her skin, but she's not afraid, "Enlighten me though, Doctor Isles, why are you willing to do this?"

She looks at the body on the autopsy table.

She had to keep the goggles on; she has to remember that she has evidence to preserve, an autopsy to carry out.

She looks at the body on the autopsy table.

The sheet still covered up to her chin.

She looks at the body on the autopsy table.

An hour had passed and still, no Y-incision had been done.

She looks at the body on the autopsy table.

The reason is simple - the body is not that of any Doe.

"She's been through so much," she looks at the body on the autopsy table, "She deserves better, she deserves more time, she deserves to be happy."

"And you don't?"

"A meaningful and purposeful life," she puts aside her goggles, "That's all I ever wanted to have. She gave me that already," she touches the body's cheek, "She gave me a best friend. She's my best friend."

"Are you hers?"

"I don't know," she touches the body's hand, "But it doesn't matter," she turns around to face the cloaked figure, "What matters is that she's there, lying on my autopsy table." She closes her eyes to steady her breathing, to hold back tears.

"Take my offer," she removes her gloves, "Take it, please."

"If I take it, there's no going back," the cloaked figure glides across the morgue towards her, "It will happen exactly as you've listed and," the hooded head turns to look at her, "There will be no retraction."

"I know what I'm doing," she takes a step closer to the cloaked figure, "I know what I'll lose," she takes in a deep long breath, "But I know what I'll gain."  
>Her hand unconsciously reaches out for the body's.<p>

"It's a big price Maura Isles."

She looks at the body on the autopsy table, at the body that isn't just any Jane Doe.  
>She looks at the body on the autopsy table - her eyes closed, unmoving, and her smile, not forming.<p>

She looks at Jane Rizzoli lying on the autopsy table, and she knows.

"Jane," she says as she holds onto the token she keeps constantly in her pocket, "Jane's worth it."

She shakes the skeletal hand of the cloaked figure.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hi there, thank you, for the time~  
>This story's a re-upload, with some minor style change. One day, more chapters will probably come to be. Apologies.<br>Thank you, for the time=)


	2. Chapter 2

She flinches out of a reverie. One she didn't know that she had gotten lost in. One she didn't remember even being in.

"What?" She fought the urge to send along a crass remark.

"We were saying, just how-"

"I need some coffee," she leaves her seat before her partner Frost can do anything but leave his sentence hanging.

There is something that she seems to be lacking. Maybe it's caffeine. Maybe, no, it's probably just caffeine. She thinks.

She numbs that empty feeling in her with a long drink of coffee.

It's not working.

* * *

><p>"Janie?"<p>

She looks up from her desk.

"Cavanaugh says that you've been here since last night," ma sends a gentle smile, "Maybe it's time to go home?"

Home? She looks back to her desk. She's been trying to finish up a report since 2am last night. She couldn't get past the medical examiner's report. Something about it had seemed different. She looks to her mother.

"Sure ma, let's go," she takes her blazer from her chair and she starts to walk. She stops and waits for something.

A sound? A person? Something. She turns back around and reaches for her cup of coffee.

It's cold. It's never cold. Is it cold?

She looks back at her desk. It's 7am in the morning. She's never in so early.

"Let's go home ma, can you drive?" She asks and pretends to not catch how taken aback her mother is.

"Sure Janie, I'll drive."

She rides the elevator in silence. She doesn't drink the coffee. It's cold.

* * *

><p>"Ma! You missed the turn!"<p>

"What turn?"

"The turn to Beacon Hill! Come on ma!"

Her mother looks at her. She looks back at her mother.

"What?" She tries not to sound too angry.

"Why would we be heading to Beacon Hill? Are you alright Janie?" Her mother reaches to feel her forehead.

She shrinks back from the hand that's about to touch her. "I'm fine ma!" She yells but isn't so sure inside.

Beacon Hill. It's familiar, but not. Didn't she used to drive up there?

She looks out the window.

She never looks out the window. She's always looking at the passenger, not the window.

She shakes her head. She must be thinking of some vic's address instead.

* * *

><p>"Do you want some breakfast Janie?"<p>

"No ma, I'm fine. Go on home. I'm fine. I can make my own breakfast." She hurries her mother out her door and settles herself against the door.

Hands in her hair, eyes shut and fists tightly clenched, she tries for deep breaths, she counts to ten.

The last time she had felt like this – scared, confused, useless, angry, anxious; forgetting thoughts and remembering fragments - was when Hoyt had punctured her hands.

She takes in deep breaths and counts to ten.

Hoyt's been gone for, what? Three years? She focuses on the door behind her back.

She takes in deep breaths, and tries to understand why her fists are still tightly clenched.

She stands and heads to the fridge. She needs a beer. She needs to relax. She needs a beer.

A pack of chocolates falls onto the floor. Fudge clusters.

What?

She's losing her mind.

"I've never seen these chocolates in all my life," she hesitantly crams one into her mouth, "But I just know what they're called and how they'll taste like."

She slams her refrigerator shut.

"And there's no beer, there's only vegetables."

She falls to the floor and starts to cry.

She doesn't bother with deep breaths or counting to ten.

The empty feeling in her wins.

She's losing her mind.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hi there, thank you, for the time~  
>Hmm. An update. Two chapters.<br>I'm hoping too, the intention of this chapter comes across respectfully, and, makes some sense at least.


	3. Chapter 3

"She's not herself. She's breaking apart. She's not herself."

"That's not my doing."

"You said - " she doesn't know what words to add.

"I said that I'll make it happen as you've listed," the cloaked figure almost snarls, "Never, not once, did I say that she would go back to who she used to be."

"She's supposed to be smiling, happy, joking around…"

"Maybe she's missing something Maura Isles," the cloaked figure gestures about the room, "Something right here in this room."

"You had conditions you offered," the hooded figure hands her a cloak, "Now prove it."

Speaker of the dead. Fetcher of the dead. Maura Dorothea Isles. Queen of the dead.

"It read, Jane Rizzoli will be happy again." She snagged the cloak as defiantly as she could muster, "Right there, at the top of the list."

"You're forgetting why she was happy in the first place." With that said, the cloaked figure vanishes and the morgue becomes empty and silent again.

She wonders if she's made, a mistake.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hi there, thank you, for the time~  
>I'll just have to say, the original plan's been tossed out the window, or more likely - I've forgotten what it is...Hmm. I hope that it's alright still.<br>**Personal note:** Might you...also maybe, consider the message I had left on my profile? It touches on future fanfics - which might be of interest to you if you follow the other fanfics I have written.  
>Thank you, for the time=)<p> 


	4. That Chapter

The hooded figure appears right then again.

And behind the hooded figure trails a confused looking Jane.

She - Maura - sheds her own cloak, and dashes forward to hold onto Jane.

In a chilling voice, the hooded figure delivers the words so often spoken today.

The words are: Happy April Fools

And the skeletal hand casts towards them both, a handful of confetti or two.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I had to. Happy April Fools from HaveringFool!=)  
>Do disregard this chapter in terms of the story progression.<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hi there, an update and it's all the way to completion. Remember, the previous chapter is to be ignored and, as always, it's okay to stop anytime you feel like you have to, and thank you, for the time=)

* * *

><p>"Go away."<p>

The knocks continue.

"I said, go away."

The relenting knocking persists.

She stands up from her couch, wads through a couple of items, and yanks the door open.

"What is it that you want?"

"We haven't seen you all week Jane." Tommie walks right past her.

"What's happening Janie?" Frankie asks and waits to be invited.

She sighs and walks away from the open door into her kitchen.

"Nothing. I'm just taking some time out. I'm fine." She sets two wine glasses down. She picks them back up. She places two bottles in place.

"If ma sees this," Frankie looks around, "She's going to kill you."

There are worse things than dying Frankie. Much worse. She thinks but does not answer.

"Look, save the lecture, have your beers and go. I'm fine." She storms off towards her room. "Lock up when you go." She shuts her bedroom door.

There are worse things - like having dream after dream, of someone dying night after night, and being able to do nothing about it.

She stares at a bottle cap.

She had found it in the bag of chocolates. The bag of fudge clusters.

She doesn't know why, but the emptiness doesn't reach her when she holds on to it - the bottle cap amongst the chocolates she had never ever had.

She holds onto the bottle cap, and doesn't worry about needing to count to ten.


	6. Chapter 5

"Is it possible for her to know, to remember?"

"I claim spirits, souls. I'm the keeper of the dead. Not of love, and memories."

"You gave her back her life, at the promise of wiping out all presence of mine. Did you manage that?" She purses her lips.

"Are you questioning me Maura Isles?" The skeletal hand wrapped around the scythe tightens.

"Jane's been muttering my name in her sleep." She challenges.

"You promised you wouldn't go to her."

"You promised that she'll be happy."

"Don't test me Maura Isles. There are worse things than dying." The cloaked figure vanishes with the new souls she had collected in death's place.

She grips onto the token in her pocket, and she tries not to remember nights of Jane crying in her sleep.


	7. Chapter 6

She's a detective, she solves mysteries, and she will solve too this.

She forces herself out of bed, rubbing away sleep that she can't get.

She runs, even when she tries to jog, the way leading to Beacon Hill.

The place is empty; the houses are clean, kept, but otherwise empty.

She reaches for her gun, and puts it back away.

She's Jane Rizzoli today, not Detective Rizzoli; she needs only the bottle cap she holds steadfastly on to in her hand - the scars are but scarred tissue with this in her hand.

She goes where her feet take her, and her hand reaches for the door knob instead to knock - so instinctively, and she knows better by now in all her years, to trust too her gut than her mind.

A slight jumble of words like nerves, and intestines flash by in the back of her mind - she wonders why the voice that speaks sound so familiar, and entirely unlike hers.

She holds tighter onto the bottle cap, now her token - she feels calm, sure, and certain; and her gun's holstered, her badge clipped and unneeded.

The door opens, and she steps in; ignoring the absence of a warning of her trespassing - she's been here before.

Beacon Hill is where the passenger she drives with lives.


	8. Chapter 7

She follows behind her as she traverses the ground that was once her front yard.

She casts a slight glance towards the flowers she misses watering; but mostly she follows closely behind, puzzled and worried as to just why Jane's here, when Jane has no reason to be, nor does she.

Jane's hand's fisted around an object that she can't see - Jane had refused to draw arms; then again, Jane has no reason to be.

She had done as she had to, claim the souls she had to, and there were none due too soon - definitely none anywhere near this vicinity.

She might have lost it - the chance to speak for the ones whom can no longer do, but she is still, a part of the end, and she is only following Jane because time permits her to; death calls, every second as it would seem, but this second's hers, and she's going to follow behind her best friend, she's going to stay behind Jane, at a time when finally Jane, seems herself again.

It was why she had made the deal in the first place - Jane deserved this, Jane deserved more time; she wants Jane smiling, and happy.

She wonders for a moment why the door opens as Jane turns the door knob - hadn't she left it locked?

"You aren't supposed to be here," the only voice she can respond to speaks behind her.

She looks longingly just for a second at the figure of Jane Rizzoli walking past the threshold of what once was her house, where she more than willingly allowed to have considered as also Jane's abode, before turning to face the hooded cloaked figure that called out to her, that had probably been watching them both.

She dreads that the deal would break.

"Jane's herself again, I'll stay away."

She wonders for a moment if the cloak she has on can hide the hives she tries to not have develop; her hand struggles to hold and yet not hold, onto the token she has resting in the depth of her pocket - she won't sacrifice Jane's happiness again, that was her mistake.


	9. Chapter 8

She does a quick sweep, she maps the house as she would any other.

She checks the rooms, she opens a big wardrobe, and kitchen cabinets.

The house is furnished, and yet, void of all signs of a person living or residing in it - there were no frames, no paintings, not a single item of clothing in all the places she had search.

The token keeps her head from spinning again, from how improbable it all seems.

There's not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere - this place is clean.

She clutches onto her token, and is amazed at how she struggles to breathe not out of fear, but at the jarring realization that she feels at home here - empty, but safe nonetheless - she's home here.

She looks down at her feet, expecting for just a moment to see a creature, a wagging tail or a shell of a tortoise and not a turtle.

The bottle cap is cutting into the flesh of her palm - the pain is real, this is real.

Her hand reaches for the spot where her heart beats beneath her chest.

"I saved her."

"I saved her Bass," she speaks to a name she remembers, the name of her pet - the tortoise that's not a turtle.

"I remember you Bass," she looks around the furnished place - the living room, with the couch they shared; her haven away from the world.

"But I don't remember her," she admits but remembers a laughter, and the warmness she feels each time it arises - she just can't pin or link, everything she feels, to a tangible memory, to a face, or a name.

"I saved her," she stands now in the kitchen, hands firm against the counter tops, remembering the aroma of coffee, of breakfast with someone who makes her try without trying, smile and laugh as easily as breathing.

"She's my best friend, and I saved her," the dreams that tear her away from sleep, aren't real, "I won."

"I saved her." She repeats again, greatly affirmed.


	10. Chapter 9

"Stop Maura Isles, stop," the scythe disappears but the cloaked figure doesn't.

She stops.

"You aren't supposed to be here," the voice isn't chilling, isn't cold.

She looks at the hood, picturing hollowed sockets like countless lore had depicted.

"You can't revoke our deal, I made a mistake, I won't go near her again," she worries, and she fears.

"You're forgetting why she was happy in the first place," the voice sounds almost cordial, pained, but conversational.

She watches as the hood falls, and her eyes connect with another - nothing at all like what some texts would suggest.

"Love never dies does it Maura Isles?" The voice questions. "I can't take away anything that love has touched, that love has tainted," the eyes reflect sadness, the voice is simply pained.

She's listening and looking, right at death, right at pain, with a cloak concealing - as Jane might suggest - a body of bones.

"I don't understand," she simply responds, "Jane's just my best friend," a statement she delivers fluently and yet leaden with great weight as her hand chooses to hold and not hover, over the only reminder of a truth she wishes to never really forgo or denounce, regardless of what Jane might never feel towards her - reciprocity is something she's used to not having; she's used to being alone.

"You lie Maura Isles," death almost smiles, "But her reality, and your reality does not," death gestures behind her, "The house you welcome her so often in, is more her home than where she spent the past nights crying for a person she lost in her dreams."

She can see Jane walking around in her house, in their home.

"It stands, everything she cares for stands, and couldn't be erased," death explains, "I keep my words, I do not lie, but love does not die, and if it lives, I cannot intervene."

She can feel perspiration pooling at the small of her back - Jane's walking towards the door, towards her.

"If she can remember your name, our deal remains," death's standing next to her, "But I can give you both a day, and that's better than what some others can never have," death removes her cloak, "She's right isn't she? You're always ready for a photo shoot," death smiles, and she does too - Jane's very words resurface, from that night when she first opened up her house, and her heart, to her best friend Jane.


	11. Chapter 10

She moves as she feels she should.

The house, the door, it all feels right, it all feels real.

There's someone outside, waiting for her.

The house, the door, it all feels right, it all feels like her.

And there she is, standing right in front of her.

"I saved you," her words are firm, and her walk is focused.

"I saved you Maura Isles," her hand holding onto hers is warm, is real.

"You're here, I won, and I saved you," her arms are around her, and she is being held, by her.

"You're my best friend, and I love you," she says the words she didn't get to say when the bullet had pierced right through her as she stood in between the gun and her, "I love you," she promises sincerely against Maura's temple.

"Maura, I love you too."


	12. Chapter 11

Her hand is in hers.

The cloaked figure, stands before them, "One day. One day is all you have," the pained eyes and hurt voice reminds them again, "One day."

* * *

><p>Jane feels awkward, and her limbs feel lanky. Maura compliments her long bones, her long limbs, and normally she would be secretly pleased, but now she only feels awkward. It'll hold, she comments to herself as she leaves the room, to go to Maura.<p>

Maura's in the kitchen, washing up from the breakfast they had shared. Jane was her usual self, making a mess out of the peanut butter and fluff. She had insisted for Jane to use a separate knife for each different spread, but Jane had simply rolled her eyes at her and insisted that it'll make no difference anyway - it'll all go down to the same place Maura. She smiles into the curve of Jane's neck as she rests against Jane who's holding her close to her.

"Maura?" Jane whispers, soft and low, "I'm ready. Are you?"

Maura nods, and peppers Jane's jaw with kisses, "I am if you are," she smiles.

"Keep your eyes closed?"

"Do I have to Jane?"

"You don't have to," Jane traces Maura's brow, "But it'll be nicer if you do."

Maura smiles, "Lead the way then Jane," she kisses Jane's smile before shutting her eyes, "I trust you."

"I do too," Jane kisses Maura's forehead and contemplates carrying her, "I trust you."

Jane's hands are on her shoulders, guiding her along.

"Just a little while more Maura, and to the left a little," Jane is careful and detailed in all delivery of instruction. She has a firm hold on each of Maura's shoulder, and she had taken care to remove all possible obstacles or obstructions beforehand. Her hands never leave Maura's shoulders, and her fingers massage at Maura's muscles - it isn't tense, and neither is she. She's breathing easy.

Maura accustoms herself to having her eyes shut quicker than she would have anticipated, and she knows gleefully almost, that it's because she has Jane by her - Jane takes away the fear, of the unknown, of everything. She doesn't even encounter a single fleeting moment of worry, of banging into anything - Jane has a hand firmly on her back now, Jane has her back. "I have your back too Jane," her lips find Jane's upturned against hers.

"I know you do Maura," Jane wraps her arms around Maura, "You can open your eyes now," she steps a little away just so she can watch as Maura sees what she had built for her.

Maura opens her eyes, and it's a fort. The room she's in has a fort - a blanket fort.

Maura turns to Jane, reaches for her hand, before continuing her survey of the room. The room is dark, but the walls and ceiling are abundant with stars. The room is in the dark - Jane had boarded up the windows - but the fort in the middle of the room, is light.

"What do you think?" Jane asks, smile hopeful as she had watched Maura's eyes light up.

"I think that it's beautiful Jane," Maura smiles against Jane's, "You're beautiful," she traces Jane's eyes, Jane's matching smile, "You are beautiful, and I love you Jane."

"Maura," Jane traces Maura's eyes, "You," she kisses Maura's forehead, "You are beautiful, and you've made me beautiful." She holds Maura close to her, "I want all things beautiful for you," she whispers into Maura's hair, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you Maura," she presses her lips to Maura's temple. Even if we have to do it all in one day, words she does not say.

"Jane," Maura rests her head on Jane's shoulder and keeps her arms tightly wrapped around Jane, "I want that too, my whole life with you," she kisses Jane's shoulder, "And I'll spend my only day with no one else but you Jane," she tips on her toes to kiss Jane's temple, "You built me a fort," she allows herself a giggle, "Everything is beautiful because of you." She holds Jane closer, and tucks away the nagging ache of the knowledge that a day is just a day, that they only have today.

Jane places Maura's hand to her chest, "Maura," she smiles, "You've built with me, a home," she holds onto Maura's hand, "Shall we?" She gestures to the fort as she playfully bows. She feels the warmness building in her chest as she listens to Maura's laugh.

"You're my home Jane," Maura assures as she forces away a mental image of Jane on her once autopsy table with a firm squeeze on the warm hand guiding her towards their fort, their light, "Home for me is wherever you are and will be," she leans in for a hug before entering the opening of the fort that Jane holds up for her - and she sees blankets, pillows, and cushions.

"You should be pleased to know that this blanket fort is definitely better than any other forts you've ever had," Jane sits opposite a grinning Maura, "It's cool, and soft, comfy and not stuffy, which is the most important," she points at the hanging ornaments above their heads, "And I placed our tokens up above," her finger grazes at her token and Maura's, "I found mine in a bag of fudge clusters," she holds onto Maura's hands, "I know now why they're so familiar," she smiles at Maura looking up at the hanging tokens, "They're your favourite."

Maura looks away from the dangling bottle caps. Jane had shown it to her over breakfast and admitted that having suggested them keep the bottle caps was more than just a way for Jane to remind her to give beer a chance whenever they had a dispute over alcoholic beverages - Jane had wanted them to keep them, to remember the first beers they shared, as best friends, and as Jane had hope, one day more than friends. She had blushed then, and had removed hers from her pocket, explaining to Jane that she had kept hers close to her, and has it with her wherever she goes - and that she had Jane's name inscribed onto it, just so she can always have her best friend, and she too had hope, someone more - always with her. They had laughed, and lamented slightly at their foolish worries - they settled it all, with shared bites of peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, and a generous helping of kisses. Maura looks to Jane smiling at her, "I developed a liking to fudge clusters because they remind me of you," she holds onto Jane's hands, "All tough on the outside, but gooey and warm on the inside," she kisses Jane's hands, "You're my favourite Jane," she leans into Jane's welcoming arms, "You're my favourite too Maura," Jane plants the words and kisses to the top of her head, and their hands are holding onto each other's.

"So I'm crunchy on the outside?" Jane teases as Maura's laughter resounds in their blanket fort, "And you want to eat me," Jane hums to herself, "That explains now, all those fun facts you like to share about immunogoblin A," Jane laughs along to Maura's.

"It's immunoglobulin A Jane," Maura playfully rights.

"So you admit it then? You want to sleep with me," Jane smiles at Maura's gasp.

"I have only ever given answers oblivious enough with no intent to lie or deceive," Maura hides her blush by burying herself in Jane's hair.

"Clementine Rizzoli is clueless Rizzoli, and I eat kale because of you," Jane kisses at Maura's temple as her fingers twirl at Maura's hair, "I know I can't spend my life with you Maura," she keeps her arm firmly wrapped around Maura who stiffens a little, "But -"

"So you built a blanket fort to represent childhood, or parenthood, and if we reach the stage of immunoglobulin A tonight, you've secured for us society's indicative milestones of life," Maura rests her hand on Jane's chest as her words interrupt Jane's, "I love your beautiful mind even more for such ingenious thinking," she kisses the spot above Jane's beating heart, "We'll get to spend our lives with each other after all Jane," her smile falls at the tear-filled eyes looking back at her.

"I'm sorry Maura," Jane apologizes in a voice so soft, "I didn't win like the last time, I couldn't - I couldn't save you," she looks down as tears fall, "The dreams, they're real, and I didn't save you Maura, you died and we only have today."

"We could have had the real thing if - if I had won like the other time and, we would have this, all of this," Jane shuts her eyes and rests against Maura's shoulder, "We could have spent our lives together if I had won, if I had saved you," she holds onto Maura, holding onto her, "I'm so sorry Maura," she holds onto Maura - her best friend, the reason why she doesn't need to count to ten.

"You did Jane, you saved me, you won," Maura holds Jane steadily close to her, "You took the bullet for me, you protected me like you always said you would," she sheds her own tears, "I traded with death, to give you back the life you deserved, to have my best friend happy, and alive," her own voice is calm as she explains but she feels a mess inside, "I had you already, a best friend, a meaningful and purposeful life," she pulls Jane gently away as her hands frame Jane's face, "You won, you saved me, I'm the one who bargained and changed all you did, and I'm sorry Jane, I'm sorry for the nightmares I've caused you, for trading with you but," she presses her lips to tears, "I just want you happy, and I was foolish to not have known that I was it," her thumbs brush away at more tears, "I was why you're happy, and I love you Jane, but I can't have you die for me, I can't have you dead," she admits as tears cascade, "It was a logical decision and I'm so sorry Jane," she shudders into herself but Jane pulls her in, "I'm so sorry Jane," she cries against Jane - the reason why it's all worth it, why she's always home.

Jane holds a tearful Maura in her arms, and takes a moment to piece up the mystery, "My dreams aren't real, I saved you, but this is real," she kisses at Maura's hand, "I'm alive, and you are dead," she states the facts as Maura tenses again against her, "But you are here," she holds Maura closer to her.

"Not the most romantic proposal Maura but," Jane gently lifts Maura's chin and smiles, "You're right, that's why I built the blanket fort, and I've always been yours since I fell in love with you," she smiles and tries to keep the pain, the tension away, "I just want now with you, I just want all things to be beautiful for you, and for you," she kisses Maura's temple, "To be happy too, and that's enough for me," her eyes meet Maura's, "When you're happy, I'm happy Maura," she smiles.

Maura holds the shared gaze, "You did even the odds Jane, we're here," she pauses to sit up, "You are why we're here, your love," she blushes, "For me, our love, you won us this day, and I know you won more, and I caused you to lose."

"Nope, I feel like a winner right now," Jane wraps her arms around Maura, "I'm alive, and you're here," she smiles as she guides Maura to lay down next to her, "And we're in a really beautiful fort, we're winners Maura," she kisses Maura's temple, "You're my odds, and I won," she holds onto Maura's hands that find hers, "I got shot and I scored," she jokes and looks at Maura hoping for eased tension.

Maura looks at Jane, teasing smiling happy Jane, and rests her head on Jane's chest, listening to Jane's beating heart, as Jane wraps her arm around her, "Tell me more Jane? About our life together, if I wasn't quite the queen of the dead," she asks as the nagging ache dissipates with each beat of Jane's pumping heart - a day is enough, happy Jane is enough.

"We've already covered fantasy wedding and by default Maura, yes you can come, since you're the bride," Jane pauses to meet Maura's smile with hers, "We'll have it at a volcano called fenway park and the peanuts would burn, except that wait, you said dormant volcano so, let's decide on the cake first, or should we do attire? You want a dress with a train, and I am in my red sox gear, or maybe we'll have a softball team, and we'll wear our uniforms. Imagine Ma's face! Just you and me, and our children. We'll come home from work to screaming fighting children until their bossy mother, you," Jane laughs as Maura harmlessly slaps her arm, "Sits us down with vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and -"

"Having only vegetables is hardly nutritious enough Jane, we'll have to feed them burgers and fries, stuff them with ice cream," Maura supports herself on her elbow to look at Jane, "They'll be just like their mother, all roly-poly," Maura grins.

"Maura!" Jane feigns shock.

Maura laughs and lays back down next to Jane, and Jane turns to face Maura, "I'm not even close to done yet Maura," she snuggles herself against Maura, "We'll go jogging early in the morning, because we'll all have to train for the P.U.K.E. marathon, and we'll have little champions all around us, cheering for their mother who finally runs in those webbed shoes, you again," she presses her lips to Maura's dimple, "And we'll have holidays, with a luggage, at most two, for me and each of our child, but still be towing about sixty suitcases because their mommy dearest needs a pair of shoes for every day of our trip," she holds Maura close to her, "We'll grow old together, and be cranky at the neighbours, but never at each other," she holds Maura closer to her, "We'll go to bed every night together, because I will personally have Susie run all your test reports as fast as she can, and I'll have Rondo let the word out that no homicide is to take place after office hours, because detective Jane Rizzoli, wants to go home and cuddle with her beautiful wife, the queen of the dead," she kisses Maura's temple, "You're welcome to of course, add in more gifts like racing classes for me," she grins as Maura smiles back at her with watery eyes, "But it'll always be enough, for me, as long as you're happy Maura," she rests her head against Maura's chest, hearing a faint beat underneath, "I'm glad you did the trade Maura," she looks up to meet Maura's puzzled face, "I wouldn't want my life and soul, to belong to anyone but you," she kisses at Maura's moist dimple, "I'm never leaving you," she promises.

Maura listened and took in every word, savouring in the imagery that Jane had painted - a life of their own, a life with each other. She looks at their hands, held tightly together, and at Jane smiling back up at her, "You do make everything beautiful Jane," she traces the eyes that look back at her, filled with kindness and love, "I love you Jane," her smile meets hers, "I love you too."

* * *

><p>Her hand is in hers.<p>

The cloaked figure, greets them at their door as midnight draws near, "The day's almost up, the one day we all got to have," a cloak appears on a skeletal hand, "Ready to honour our deal Maura Isles?" Death asks in a voice again cold, but with eyes that shine, that glow, "Life and death met again, and will meet again," the hood is back up, as the scythe appears, "One day."

Her hand is still in hers as the cloaked figure disappears; and a note is left in death's place - 'Your love couldn't die, and I got too my one day. Life has a present for you - another day. Thank you. You evened the odds, for all lovers today.'

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hi there, thank you, for the time~  
>If you've read all of it and, is not at least, utterly disappointed, thank you for bearing through it all with me=)<br>Hmm. And now onto other fanfics where I should stop obsessing with love and its never really happening demise. Thank you, for the time=)


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